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“May be, we should have taken some to ponder over this. Are you sure we are doing it right?” asked Hema.

Shivan was worried and anxious. He did not know how to respond or what to say. It all started as a prank and turned out to be a dangerous mission for them.

When they tried to find something about a classmate, Giri, they were astounded to learn the truth about him. Giri was a calm student who never talked to other students in the class or never bothered much about gossip. He did not participate in any of the college activities. Shivan challenged Hema that he would make Shivan participate in the college anniversary celebrations.

Shivan tried talking Giri into participating in one of the events. But, Giri said that he did not have the time to participate in rehearsals and he had no plans of attending the anniversary celebrations. Moreover, he said that such celebrations never interested him. Shivan even tried to plead him, threaten him, and fight with him to convince him to participate. But, Giri overpowered him in the fight and ask him not to trouble any more on this topic.

So, finally, Shivan and Hema decided to stalk Giri and learn more about him. According to Shivan’s plan, they would find something about Giri that they could use to blackmail him and make him participate in the college anniversary celebrations.

One day, after college, they both started following Giri stealthily without his notice. Everything seemed normal about Giri. He went to his house, had lunch and then went around to have fun with his friends in the street. Around evening, Giri got ready and left home. Shivan and Hema wondered if he went to some playground or a movie theater.

Contrary to their expectations, Giri rode his bike to a high profile apartment complex. He went to a particular flat and unlocked the apartment using a key in his pocket. This did not seem so strange to Shivan as they thought this must be the house of one of his relatives. But, they decided to peep into the apartment to check what he was doing in the apartment.

To their utter shock and dismay, there were at least six more men in the house and it seemed more like a busy group planning some activity. Shivan could not hear anything about their conversations even though he tried to eavesdrop. He, then, used his mobile phone and hit the record button. There was an option to record sounds with increased amplitude. Shivan and Hema sat in a corner while his mobile phone did the recording.

After an hour, they noticed Giri leaving the place. Shivan gathered his mobile phone. Shivan and Hema quietly walked out of the apartment complex into a nearby park and started playing the recorded audio file.

They could hear Giri speaking. Giri said, “Are we done with the preparations? We have only two weeks left.”

An unknown voice responded, “Give us two more days. We will be ready. You can then plan your activity and implement it. Remember the four rules of our group.”

Giri said, “I remember the rules. But, we have to be careful and plan it in a coordinated fashion. Did the team from the northern frontier reach already?”

Another unknown voice, “All the battalions are ready. The supporters from the symphony group have also been informed and pledged their support. Now, you have to go and learn more about the venue. Gather as much as possible and make your plan.”

Shivan and Hema realized that they found something really disturbing. They bother wondered if this was a terrorist outfit that was stationed in the apartment.

Neither Hema nor Shivan knew anyone in the police department.

Hema said, “Why don’t we go to the police station and narrate the entire story?”

Shivan replied, “That seems to be a good idea. Except for the fact that they will think that we are part of the same outfit and we had issues with the group and hence chose to expose the other people in the group. Trust me. It is extremely dangerous to deal with these kind of situations. We need to be smart and safe.”

Hema said, “You are a gadget freak. Why don’t you use your mobile phone to make an anonymous call to inform them.”

Shivan liked the idea and searched for an app that would hide identity of the caller. After searching for some time, he found an app that served their purpose. He immediately dialed the police and narrated the entire story and disclosed the details of the apartment where the miscreants were carrying out their activities.

It became a headline in the newspaper for the next day. Shivan felt proud. Hema called him after a few minutes. She said, “Hey, are you not coming to the college?”

Shivan said, “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Hema added, “Did you check the newspapers? I’m worried about Giri.”

Shivan said, “What is there to be worried? He is safe now.”

Hema replied with some anger in his voice, “You are missing the point here. People from their group and other groups of this activity will definitely start doubting Giri. They will assume that Giri might have tipped off the cops. So, they might try to hunt him and kill him.”

Shivan said, “I did not think about all this. Give me a few minutes. We’ll talk to Giri at the college.”

Shivan reached the college in some time. They both waited for Giri the entire day. Giri did not come to college that day. They tried calling him on his mobile phone. Giri switched off his mobile phone and is not receiving any calls.

They finally decided to go to his home and talk to him about the entire episode. As they reach the street of his house, Shivan noticed something peculiar. He stopped in his tracks and asked Hema also to stop. He said, “Do you recognize the guy over there looking at Giri’s house? He was there in the apartment yesterday. I’m pretty sure about it because I remember the face pretty well. And, the cops have arrested only five people from the apartment.”

Hema, in a state of shock, said, “So, is this guy waiting to kill Giri?”

Shivan said, “Let’s not come to conclusions. We need to inform Giri that this guy is waiting outside his street and trying to track his activities.”

They did not want to go to Giri’s house at this juncture. Instead, Shivan pinged Giri on the college networking portal. He told Giri that he had to speak to him about the terrorists that cops arrested yesterday.

Giri did not respond immediately. But, after he saw that Shivan mentioned about terrorists and the arrest, he responded.

Shivan asked him to talk on the phone. Giri said that all this phone lines would have been tapped and it is better to communicate through this secure website.

Shivan told him about the guy standing at the other end of the street. Giri was not surprised as he was sure that something like this would happen. But, Giri was surprised when he came to know that it was Shivan who informed the cops.

After discussing for a few minutes, Giri asked Shivan to go and talk to the cops directly. Though Shivan was not sure about it, he agreed to do so.

On their way to the police station, Shivan and Hema wondered if it was the right thing to go to the cops at this juncture. So, they chose to go to their college instead and act as if nothing ever happened. They did not respond to Giri even when he tried to contact them.

After a couple of hours, they pondered over the topic again and decided to not go to the cops that day. Later that evening, they were in dismay when the news surfaced that Giri killed himself in his house after shooting the guy standing near his street.

The cops announced to the media something that troubled Shivan and Hema. To the media, the cops said, “Before killing himself, Giri called us and told us that two of his accomplices will come and surrender to the police. But, nobody has come till now. He did not tell us their names or any other details. We are not sure about that piece of information. Even now, we think there are two people out there who are involved in anti-national activities.”

Shivan immediately logged into the college network and deleted all the communication he had with Giri that morning. With his hacking knowledge, he somehow managed to erase the records from the website database also.

Shivan called up Hema who was extremely worried and said, “We are safe for now. Thank God, we did not listen to that jerk.”